A Cyclocross Season in Review
Now that it’s over, I can say that my journey to a full(ish) cyclocross season has been years in the making.
Prior to the 2022 season I averaged less than one CX race a year. My first race was in 2016 using a hardtail MTB in Florida. Three years later I’d race again at Rainey Park CX after acquiring a Moots Routt from fellow teammate Clay Parker Jones. Then we had Covid. I registered for Rainey Park again in 2021, but took a DNS due to unappetizing weather.
As a New York based team, we don’t often venture too far away from work island (Manhattan). But, with a few family commitments in NOVA, I had the pleasure of attending a few mid-atlantic races. Races such as Charm City CX (Baltimore, MD) and DCCX (Washington, DC) are well known, but the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association has an extensive calendar. Below are the highlights from three of the races I attended.
DCCX - Washingon, DC
Huge Fields: the turnout for DCCX was incredible. It’s proximity to the city, Maryland, and Virginia led to big numbers. My category 5 field included 70 racers.
The W: the course is known for it’s W shaped obstacle. Following the W outline racers entered from the right side, dropped down a short descent before a 180 back uphill, repeat. This was a tough feature to conquer and led many a rider, including myself to unclip if they hit a root wrong or got caught up w/ another rider. It was also exhausting to finish this and go straight into the barriers.
The chicane: I found the chicane to be the hardest obstacle. The chicane was located on a ridge and a very tight 180 degree turn. Riders rode up to the ridgeline then had to turn downhill on the 180. I managed to ride the correct line a few times, but on the last lap I went straight into the barriers.
Getting gassed: I went into the race thinking my fitness was reasonable… I was wrong finished about 20 places back with a sizable time split.
Beer: DCCX had a brew tent from City-State Brewing. I tried their lager and IPA. Both were light, crisp, and a great pairing while watching teammates do laps.
Food: After my race I acquired a strawberry rhubarb pie from Acme Pie Company - which had essentially sold out of pies by the early afternoon. I also got an iced coffee from Zeke’s Coffee before moving onto beer. The race also had Big Cheese, but I didn’t partake.
Biketoberfest CX - West Friendship, MD
Pedally course: at nearly 1.7 miles per lap the course was quite long. There were a few reasonable areas to get a little recovery, including one long descent, but not many.
Steep hill: the long, steep hill was grueling. At approximately 210 feet long w/ 30 feet of climbing (15% grade) I didn’t have great gearing to do anything but mash up the hill every lap. This steep hill located halfway through the course left me recovering for nearly the remainder of the lap and made the two more technical features following it all the more difficult.
Wide turns: the turns on the course were wide and flowy except for a few more technical features. I should have risked taking these turns at speed, instead I took a number of them cautiously costing myself time and energy. Hopefully this gets better as I get more comfortable racing CX.
Beer: Key Brewing Co. came with four beers: pale ale, gose, hazy IPA, and a porter. I tried the hazy IPA and porter. The Hazy IPA was one of the best beers I’ve tried in a long time from a craft brewery, and the porter was pretty great too.
Food: Key Brewing was also present with a nod to Oktoberfest w/ a German Sausage platter and hot dogs. I got the patter w/ amazing sauerkraut and potato salad.
AACX at South River Farm - Shelby-on-the-bay, MD
Steep Hill Climb: There was super steep kicker at the end of the course lap. It was probably 10 feet high, 5 feet in length. It was like running into a wall. During pre-ride I sessioned this hill and figured out you needed a lot of speed and line starting on the left and cutting over halfway up to the right. However, I never actually made it up during pre-ride. During the race I’d get it the first 3 laps, but then as I lost stamina and focus I bobbled it the last two laps.
Mud: there were a few muddy sections on the course. The worst section was a 500ft stretch at the start of the course. I had experienced massive sand pits at BubbleCX earlier in the season, so that was good practice for these conditions. However, unlike the sand - there were no ruts to go through and I did have to unclip once to get through.
Fitness: I said it before, need to do intervals… 3ish lap stamina…
Beer: No beer options, tragic.
Food: Taqueria el Primo had amazing Al Pastor tacos (see the hilarious quote, below, from the race organizers)
“Let it be known that when it comes to the stakes and tape of running a cyclocross race, ABRT and Parvilla do a hella good job. But when it comes to reading the code for AACO Parks & Rec we’re no Leslie Knope which means we just found out that Taqueria el Primo can’t sell food in a county park! What does a bike team do when there are 300+ people registered for tomorrow’s races and food can’t be sold? We aren’t very smart so the only the idea we could come up with is to offer free food and ask for a donation to cover the $3,000 worth of yumminess that will be available tomorrow to EVERYONE! Each meal you pick up tomorrow from Taqueria el Primo is worth about $12 so we ask that you drop a donation equivalent for that amount in the “donation jar” at the registration table or Venmo @michael-roth-59 that amount. While we are a non-profit, we are a 501(c)(4) which means there’s no tax deduction, just goodwill and awesome food from a bunch of folks who like to ride bikes.”
Lessons Learned This Season:
I’m not in CX shape. After a few laps, I'm gassed. Need to train with more intervals.
I’m not that good at bike handling. I need to take a few more risks on spacious corners by taking them at speed and believing the tires will hold.
I can mount tubeless tires. After racing SBT Gravel I got a set of Baby Limuss, tape, sealant, and an AirShot. Strongly recommend the AirShot if a compressor isn’t an option.
Great craft beer scene at the mid-atlantic races. CX season is beer season.
NYC based rider working in Product. Predominantly road, but starting to dabble into Gravel and CX. Beer connoisseur and cat daddy.
Instagram: @mitchell_napolitano
